Last year, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed off on a bill that allowed certain books to be banned from school libraries.
Now, Florida Democrats are trying to use that law to ban DeSantis' own memoir.
A group of lawmakers are pushing to have the governor's recently-published memoir "The Courage To Be Free: Florida's Blueprint for America's Revival" banned under HB1467, which allows parents to raise objections over potentially inappropriate reading material.
The lawmakers argue the book contains 17 references that could be defined as objectionable under the law -- including using the terms "woke" and "gender ideology," along with references to racism and violence.
Florida House Minority Leader Fentrice Driskell is leading the charge.
"The very trap that he set for others is the one that he set for himself," Driskell told The Daily Beast. "With this objection to much of the material in this book, we're leaning into one of his weaknesses."
Driskell added that the movement to ban DeSantis' book should serve as a wake up call for the rest of the nation.
"If America doesn't want Florida's present reality to become America's future reality, people need to know what it's like here," Driskell told The Daily Beast. "This is our way of fighting back, but also highlighting how ridiculous some of this becomes."
It's not clear if DeSantis' book is currently on the shelves of any Florida school libraries, though one district did respond to the lawmakers' complaint, according to The Daily Beast. While administrators thanked them for "expressing... concerns," they also noted that none of their schools had any copies of the book, so they were "unable to evaluate the work as a whole" to assess the lawmakers' objections.
DeSantis signed the law regarding books in schools last year. According to his office, the bill "requires school districts to be transparent in the selection of instructional materials, including library and reading materials."
The bill requires school districts to have procedures that allow parents and other community members to see all books in the school library, all required classroom book lists, and any instructional materials a teacher intends to use -- and file objections. It also sets standards and restricts the types of books that are allowed. In order for books to be displayed, they must be free of inappropriate content such as pornographic material, depictions of violence, gender identity and critical race theory. Librarians face felony charges if they fail to comply with the bill.
DeSantis' office said the law has led to the removal of 175 books across the state.
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